Hilly Billy Housewife Challenge

[kmdiva8985]

After just eaves-dropping on conversations for a little while I feel like posting again.

Does anyone have a detailed low cost meal plan for a Gluten-free family. I was inspired to create one after seeing this website, I'm just curious if anyone has tried to feed a gluten free family of four for less than $80 a week.

www.hillbillyhousewife.com

[The Edifying Conscience]

In a recent post Cruelshoes said she feeds her family of five for $50 per week. I'm still amazed as I can't feed myself for that!

[ostrich]

Share some of your magic, Cruelshoes!
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[cruelshoes]

Yes, our grogcery budget is $200 per month. It is not easy to do, but it is possible. There are 5 of us, but the baby does not eat much just yet. I have posted some of the things I do in the saving cash thread, but I can't get that to come up on my work PC right now.

I buy most of my flours at the asian market, with the exception of the specialty ones like amaranth and millet that have to come from the FHS. Last time I went to the local Viet-Wah tapioca flour was 39-cents a pound and rice flour was 33-cents a pound. I get all of our pasta there lately, too. 99-cents a pound gr rice pasta is a lot better than $3.89 a pound for Tinkyada. We almost never buy pre-made GF baked goods. I bake all our bread from scratch. I almost never buy mixes.

It pays to think about what things go on sale at different times of the year and then stock up accordingly. For example, at thanksgiving, the local store was having a special on turkeys. If you bought $50 worth of groceries you could buy a turkey for 39-cents a pound. I split my shopping up into several smaller trips and each time I spent $50 I picked up another turkey for only a few dollars. They are good in the freezer for 6 months. I can cook them up and use the meat for enchiladas or soup or whatever. I can get 4 or 5 meals out of a 10 pound turkey and use the bones for making broth in my pressure cooker. Baking items go on sale around christmas. I bought butter at $5 for 3 packages and stocked up with several months worth in the freezer. Potatoes go on sale at thanksgiving for 99-cents for a 10 pound bag. I buy several bags and make up twice-baked potatoes and freeze them. Eggs at easter are cheap, and you can freeze those too. You get the idea.

I buy in bulk whenever possible. For example, I just bought xanthan gum this week at $40 for 5 pounds. That should last me more than a year. If you divide it out, it is just a few dollars a month.

I have a mental limit that I will not go over when buying something. I will never spend more than $1.88 a pound for butter. I will never spend more than $1.49 a dozen for eggs. If I can't find things for my target price or lower we eat something else. I wait until boneless skinless chicken goes on sale for $1.99 a pound and stock up.

The front page of the grocery ads has the "loss-leaders". These are things the grocers sell for below what they pay for them to get you in the door to spend the rest of your grocery money. Beat the grocery store at their own game and only buy the loss leaders. Then go the other stores where you know you can find the rest of your list for cheaper.

I only buy chips or ice cream during my monthly shopping trip. When they are gone, they are gone until next month. We never have things like soda in the house. They are just empty calories and do not give you the nutritional bang for the buck.

If you are really interested, you can get the "tightwad gazette" from the library. Some of those ideas are pretty out there, but some of them are good. One of my favorite websites is the Dollar Stretcher. You will find tons of ideas there.

I could go on and on about this subject, but I'd better get back to work now. You really have to think of it as a game and have fun with it. We ara a single income household (my husband stays home with the kids - I call him my "kept man"). Being GF does not have to be expensive.
_________________
-Colleen
Dx 8/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
9-YO son Dx 11/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
Daughters have negative bloodwork - so far!

A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[ostrich]

I didn't know you could freeze all that stuff.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[nancw]

And I thought I was a thrifty shopper! Great details, Colleen. Indeed, who knew you could freeze all of that? I couldn't shop that cheap overall as I go organic/hormone free with all of my dairy and meats, and organic in whatever else is on sale.

Do you have a summer garden to help feed your household?

That is one beautiful baby girl! That picture just made my day.

[cruelshoes]

I wish we could do the organic thing, but alas it is not in the budget. I do get it when the price difference is not too great. I managed some organic apples last week. Dairy prducts at Trader Joes are free of Rbst and not too expensive so I try to get those, too.

We have a garden in the summer, but this year I only did raspberries, tomatoes and onions because we had the new baby. We must have had 4 billion yellow pear tomatoes. Yummy. We managed to get enough raspberries to put 25 quart-sized bags in the freezer. Made some great jam with that - enough to last us the whole year. Everything I grow is organic, so that's a good thing. I also pick tons of wild blackberries every year to make jam and pies.

I'm sure other people have tips for keeping their grocery bills low. What are some favorites the rest of you have? I'm sure we could all learn something new.
_________________
-Colleen
Dx 8/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
9-YO son Dx 11/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
Daughters have negative bloodwork - so far!

A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[ostrich]

I follow a few of the same rules:

1. If something is on sale and I know we'll use it eventually (like chicken or jam) I'll stock up and store it away.
2. We only go shopping once per week. If something gets used it stays gone until the next shopping trip (unless it's something essential).
3. Discount cards (or coupons) are your friends. We have a card that gives us a permanent 10% discount (DH's mom works at the store).
4. We almost never buy the more expensive stuff, like steak or high-end shampoo. If we can get the store version instead of the major chain version (Kroger shampoo vs. Herbal Essences) we do.
5. If it's something we use alot of we try to make one big list and take it up to Sam's.

As far as eating out goes, we have a budget of about $20-30 per week, unless lots of big bills are due (like now) or we're hosting a party (like last weekend).
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[isto]

I'm like Colleen, I have a set price I will not go over for certain things. I freeze most everything. Our Walmart had bags of Lays reduced because their expiration date was near. So I bought some of them and put them in the freezer. It does not change texture or taste, just keeps them fresh. And with 7 people in the house, once a bag is opened, it is gone pretty fast.

I buy in bulk, especially when there is a really good sale.

I know my butcher well. He makes sure I never get injected meats and he gives me good deals when I buy in bulk sizes and don't make him package everything into meal-size quantities.

I stretch meals however I can. When I make Yankee Pot Roast, I always buy enough meat (on sale) so that I will have enough for Shepherd's pie the next night.

I plan meals according to the meat sales.

I purchase things when they are really cheap during certain times of the year - potatoes, peppers, fruit, etc... And we eat alot of those items when they are inexpensive. Plus, I chop and freeze things like peppers and onions for cooking. But they have to be in an airtight container or everything in the freezer will taste and smell like green peppers.

When I am chopping celery, I save the leafy tops and put them in a freezer bag and freeze them. I toss them in homemade soup. You can freeze any left over veggies you have and throw them in soup later on. Ditto for leftover meat.

I don't shop when I'm hungry and I take my husband with me. We keep each other from impulse buys and he's my walking calculator when I'm comparison shopping. Plus sometimes he sees a bargain I might overlook.

I always keep my chest freezer FULL. It is cheaper to run a full freezer than one that is not full.

I make things from scratch instead of buying mixes.

My husband has not had a pay check in over a year. He does not collect disability. We are able to keep our food budget down but not tight and feed our children healthy food. That is very important to us.

I've read the Tightwad Gazette. All of them. I found a lot of it was pretty ridiculous, but some of the stuff is worthwhile. There is also www.americascheapestfamily.com but I have not subscribed, as we are pretty frugal and I have already read the gist of what they do. We don't go as far as freezing a months worth of milk, at least not intentionally. Milk was cheap last week, so my husband bought 10 gallons because we use over a gallon a day. It has been so cold that we put the extra gallons that would not fit in the fridge on our enclosed porch. When I needed a new gallon, my son brought one in and it was frozen solid! It took a while until we could drink the milk!

[isto]

I'll add one more thing here.

In a recent news article, a local butcher said beef prices were going up about 20% because of the weather outwest. So I bought a bunch of beef on sale last week. I've noticed a dramatic increase in our beef prices this week.

The butcher said it was a good time to buy pork, as prices were really coming down. Yesterday I noticed that the pork prices were much more reasonable than they have been in a while. So I bought quite a few pork roasts.

Keep this in mind when you shop, in case this is the case in your specific region, also. I bought a pork roast last night for $.77 a pound.

[ostrich]

Just wanted to second the huge meal thing. We always make meals that will have leftovers. Leftovers = more meals for the week = not as many groceries. Just pretend you're having a bunch of people over and cook accordingly.

For those of you that freeze everything, do you have a deep freezer and a second freezer? I could never get everything you're talking about to fit in our freezer.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[cruelshoes]

We have a medium sized chest freezer. But you'd be surprised how mych you can store in an over-the-fridge freezer. If you freeze things flat in ziploc baggies and then stand them upright (think books in a bookshelf) you can get a lot in there.

I also forgot to mention that there is a local store (albertsons) that takes other grocery store coupons. Even the ones that say $x off a purchase. Last time I was there I used other store coupons, other store $ off purchase coupons and regular coupons. I got nearly $100 in food for only $35. Even the checker was impressed.
_________________
-Colleen
Dx 8/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
9-YO son Dx 11/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
Daughters have negative bloodwork - so far!

A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[isto]

Another good resource is the Deep Discount grocery stores. A local one also has a closeout section where we get REALLY good deals. I just got containers of GF bouillon for $.50 each. Check one out if you can!

And we have a large chest freezer. When doing research, we discovered that the chest type was more efficient, because when you open it, the cold goes down into the bottom. With an upright freezer, you open it and the cold goes down and out by your feet.

[aklap]

[Fidissimus]

Al and Tec and Jenn spend too much $$! Naughty us!

We spend a ridiculous amount of $$ on groceries a month...but we buy all organic, free range, no GMO's etc... Plus it doesn't help that we shop at New Seasons (Think: Wild Oats) because it's close and they have a great selection of GF items.

However I've got my pen and note book and want to improve!
#1 Question: What do you do about a Hubby that won't eat leftovers for more than one day (maybe!) or anything frozen and reheated? Sigh.
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Cheers!
Jenn

GF BD: Feb. 2001
Free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, dairy, eggs, almonds, pineapple and brewers yeast.
http://graindamaged.blogspot.com/